


(true love) has a habit of coming back

by lavenderlotion



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, First Kiss, Fix-It, Flirting, M/M, Post X-Men: First Class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21583669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: Alex doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. His hands are shaking by his sides and his energy is sparking along his shoulders in time with his rapid heartbeat.
Relationships: Armando Muñoz/Alex Summers, Azazel (X-Men)/Janos Quested, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Janos Quested & Alex Summers
Comments: 13
Kudos: 72





	(true love) has a habit of coming back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flightinflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/gifts).



> I literally cannot thank you enough for how amazing you've been since I decided to join the fandom. Not only have you been incredibly kind, but you've been so helpful as I try and navigate a new world filled with characters I don't yet know. Thank you so much for all the support <3

Alex doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. His hands are shaking by his sides and his energy is sparking along his shoulders in time with his rapid heartbeat. There’s a growing pit in the middle of his stomach, a hole he hasn’t felt the size of since he first lost control of his powers. 

The cool air of the balcony doesn’t help, not when he can still hear the music pumping from inside. It’s something that Janos picked because he likes feeling the vibration through the floor—and that’s something Alex might  _ never  _ get used to, even though he watched with his own damn eyes as Erik cradled Charles in his lap and pressed their foreheads, then lips, together. 

Everything happening on that godforsaken beach had stopped, and for a long minute they’d all stared as Shaw’s helmet floated off of Erik’s head. And then Erik had asked Azazel to take them to a hospital, and they’d all sort of fucked around until he popped back in for them. 

And now, well, they all live in the mansion. Charles is in a wheelchair, but they were fast enough that he managed to salvage a bit of feeling and the use of his bodily functions, which may not have been the case if he had been taken to a hospital even minutes later. Angel is back with them, the telepath decided to do her own thing, and Janos is actually pretty cool for a deaf dude (he always took his time to show Alex a sign a whole bunch of times if he wasn’t getting it) even if his boyfriend looked like a demon straight from hell, forked tail and all. 

So, ya know, all in all things are pretty groovy. Everyone is together, and Charles has done a real good job at making sure none of the feds could find them, and once they get things in order Charles is starting to talk about starting a school. It’s all real cool, even if Alex tends to stick to himself most of the time. 

And...Darwin is back. He’d just shown up one day, walking up to the front door totally nude—oh yeah, Alex sure was queer—and totally hairless with eyes that were all white. Alex had been the one to answer the door, and to this day, weeks later, he doesn’t know how he didn’t fall to the floor and start crying his goddamn eyes out. 

Because Darwin is...well, he’s fucking  _ Darwin,  _ and he meant a hell of a lot more to Alex than he’s known how to put into words back then. Even after Alex had shown them all his powers, Darwin hadn’t ever shied away, hadn’t treated him any different or  _ stopped touching him.  _ And that...well. Alex repaid him by taking his life. 

But Darwin  _ came back.  _ He died, and it was Alex’s fucking fault, but he’s...he’s  _ back.  _ And Alex lost his chance once, helplessly standing around like a fucking tool as he watched Shaw shove his power down Darwin’s throat, feet glued to the goddamn floor even as his heart felt like it was tearing apart. 

He lost his chance. His heart split in two and ever since he watched Darwin crumple into nothing but  _ could have beens,  _ there’s been a pocket of space in his chest, beside his heart and his mutation, where Darwin’s bright smile and cool touch has sat. And now that Darwin’s back, the empty space he’d gotten so used to carrying with him is almost full. 

Almost. 

And that’s why Alex is outside, even if they’re celebrating Sean’s birthday inside. Alex doesn’t feel much like partying, doesn’t really feel much like anything that doesn’t sound like a damn sin. The music gets louder behind him, but he doesn’t turn around even when it quiets again. 

He knows it’s gonna be Darwin, seeing as the taller man had cornered him along the edge of the room and got real close, caging him into a corner with nothing but his body and the way Alex felt about him. He doesn’t know if Darwin was flirting. He doesn’t know if Darwin even fucking likes him, or even likes  _ men,  _ because even if Charles and Erik are together and Janos and Azazel are like, the sweetest couple Alex has ever laid his eyes on, you don’t just  _ ask _ if someone is queer. 

“Hey hotshot,” Darwin’s voice is teasing as it sounds out beside him. It’s  _ always  _ teasing when he calls Alex hotshot, like he’s making a joke out of what Alex did, like he’s trying to lighten the burden Alex carries. It doesn’t work, is never gonna work, but Darwin always says it so damn intimately and that—

It’s the only goddamn reason he allows it. Sean had tried it once, and Alex had nearly blown him up. 

“Whatcha doing out here all by your lonesome?” It sounds like a line. Hell, it probably  _ is  _ a line, but he still  _ doesn’t know.  _ Darwin comes over and leans against the balcony, propping his hip against the stone and leaning an arm on it. He looks so different since Alex’s mutation tore him apart and forced him to adapt in a way no one knew he could, but all Alex can see is the way he’d leaned against the pinball machine, a whole lifetime ago. 

“I wanted some fresh air,” Alex tells him. He considers brushing him off, but he could never treat Darwin the way he still hasn’t quite managed to stop treating the others, with sharp words and his defence as his best offence. Hell, he doesn’t  _ want  _ to treat Darwin like that, not when he...

“Well, would you and all this fresh air like some company?” Darwin asks, flirting. He’s  _ always  _ flirting with Alex...right? He’s always touching him—like now, when the tips of his fingers press coolly against Alex’s elbow where he’s bent over and propping his arms on the same railing—and you don’t just touch other men like that ’less you wanna start something. 

Alex rolls his eyes at how bad the line is even as he tells himself it might  _ not _ be one, but he still finds himself smiling at it. That's probably a good sign of how he feels, really. “I always want your company, Mando,” he mutters, not looking over as he’s perfectly able to imagine the handsome smile that’ll be splitting the darker man’s face without needing to see it again. 

God, he wants to see it again. Wants to never look away. But the  _ last  _ time Alex had wanted him, it got Darwin killed. How the hell is he ever supposed to love him again, even if Darwin has come back?

“That so, sweetheart?” Alex sucks in a sharp breath when the hand on his elbow moves to the small of his back and Darwin gets a  _ hell  _ of a lot closer than he’d been before. The endearment makes his heart race, and he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to answer. No one’s ever called him something so soft before. 

And Alex...still doesn’t like anyone touching him. Flinches back from it every time. But Alex already killed Darwin once, and he  _ came back,  _ so instead of moving away, he arches under the hold and tilts his head to look up at him. 

Which, because Darwin is quite possibly the sweetest man Alex has ever met, earns him a whistle, a slow once over, and a, “Damn baby, you look gorgeous in the sunlight.”

Alex thinks about saying something, but words have never been his strong suit. ‘Sides, Darwin just called him  _ sweetheart  _ and  _ baby _ and called him  _ gorgeous  _ and there’s no way in hell a straight man would’a done any of that, not even one looking to fool around. So, rather than fumbling something stupid or telling Darwin he thinks they’re soulmates ‘cause of how much he loves him, he straightens out, grabs the collar of his dress shirt, and pulls him down to crush their lips together. 

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are much appreciated!


End file.
